September 7, 2016

Moving is hard as hell. There's the stress of going through everything you own and putting it in boxes, then there's the stress of relocating all those boxes, and then there's the stress of trying to figure out how to take them out again and put them into an entirely different space with entirely different needs. If you've never done it, it's hell, trust me.

One of the fun things about it, though, is getting a chance to make stuff you already have perfect for the first time. For me, that's been all about putting my art on the walls.

In case you didn't know, I have a lot of art and photographs, and I take its placement very seriously. This time around, I am straight up killing it in the gallery wall department. Behold-

That's the wall behind me in my office right now. A thing of glory, isn't it?

But what about my treasured family photographs? I started to put them up, I shuffled frames a million times, and I got to the point where I was pretty happy with what I had. Pretty happy, but not awesome purple gallery wall happy.

It's not bad, right? But it's not perfect. Just looking at this collection of photographs, I knew what was wrong. I needed my wedding picture to be bigger. Those are 5"x7" prints of the girls' school pictures. And they're GORGEOUS. But an 8"x10" photo in a landscape orientation just didn't fit. It's my favorite of our wedding pictures (and if you don't know Cheryl, our amazing photographer, you should 100% check her out and then throw all your money at her), and this was the largest print I had. When we got married and lived just the two of us in our Pilsen apartment, that was fine. And when we lived in our crowded condo in Hyde Park, that was fine, too. But we're suburbanites now. We show off our pictures like we mean it.

And that was when the amazing people at The Canvas Factory came calling. Seriously, it's like they have psychics on staff, just waiting for bloggers like me to have photograph printing needs, and then they pounce.

They offered me a free canvas print, to try out. So I did what any totally obsessive new homeowner would do- I solved the most pressing and important problem in my life. What to do about my wedding portrait.

Picking out how I wanted the print done was AMAZING and easy. They give you all sorts of filters and alterations to choose from- I could have had my wedding picture not only in black and white or sepia, but they gave me all sorts of options for softening, sharpening, fading, texturing, modifying the picture in any way I could imagine. They let me choose if I wanted the photo wrapped around the sides, or if I preferred a single color for the visible edges. It was so detailed, but still so simple, I was completely confident about the finished product before I'd made all my decisions.

I submitted my order, and waited.

When you know something perfect is coming in the mail, waiting can be hard. And being used to being in the next day Amazon delivery area will spoil a person when it comes to waiting for mail. But even with my ridiculous impatience, it didn't take long. Less than a week later, I got my canvas in the mail. And it's everything I hoped it would be.

Ahhhhhh, soooooooooo pretty!!!!!!!

That's a 20"x16" printed canvas hovering about the three 5"x7" school pictures. And it looks SO MUCH BETTER. The color is amazing. The DPIs are crazy high. It's utterly gorgeous, even though I DID crop the picture a little, to center the two of us a bit more in the frame. It looks simply amazing, and it's incredible what a little change like having a high quality, gigantic and beloved image on canvas can do for a space.

It looks so good, people.

And it's a good quality framing job, too. It's all exposed canvas, of course, but the mounting hardware on the back is totally ideal, and makes putting it on the wall a breeze. And I mean, COME ON. How good does that look????

You know you want one.

And lucky you, YOU CAN HAVE ONE TOO!!!

That's right, the amazing psychics at the Canvas Factory are giving one of you lovely readers a code for a completely free 16"x20" print as well! WITH FREE SHIPPING!!!!

All you have to do is post a comment, telling me what picture you'd get printed gigantic and perfect if you could. You don't have to use that one, of course, I just want to know what wonderful memories you want writ large all over your homes. Because it's a beautiful thing to have your happiest moments preserved and presented so lovingly in your home. I smile a big warm smile every time I walk past it. It's rapidly becoming one of my favorite walls in the house. Yes, even compared to my lovely purple office.

So check out The Canvas Factory, and let me know what picture YOU'D get printed in the comments!

As for all of you, my amazing, incredible, spectacular readers... not too much is going to change. The address of the blog will, of course, but the content won't.

Actually, the content will, a bit. There are still a few straggling sponsored posts coming up, and they'll be here. But the new stuff?

All at the new blog.

PLEASE- sign up to get my posts in your email! It's SO much better for all of us, what with Facebook trying to destroy the little lives of us little bloggers. Sign up to get Becoming SuperMommy in your mail, and I'll see you over at Chicago Now.